


Nightmares

by Draikinator



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-28
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-27 08:03:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2685335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draikinator/pseuds/Draikinator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once they're all settled in Unit E, Raf starts having nightmares. He doesn't like to talk about them much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmares

Bumblebee had always preferred to recharge in vehicle mode. When Arcee had first asked him why, he’d told her it seemed safer- he was far more compact in this mode and ready to move at a moment’s notice if they were startled awake by a Decepticon attack. Not to mention it was more inconspicuous, and he had had to recharge on the street more times than he could count.

That was a lie, though. Well- not a lie, persay. Those were all good reasons, but really, he just felt more comfortable in vehicle mode. He wasn’t sure if it was just that he’s spent more time on Earth than he ever had on Cybertron and earth vehicles seemed more familiar to him than a Cybertronian root mode or that he just preferred having all four tires pressed against the ground, but he had always found it difficult to recharge in his root mode.

An added bonus was that recharging in vehicle mode put him on the ground. Where, late at night, when the base was dark, and quiet, save for the near-silent thrum of recharging Autobots and dimmed machinery, Raf could reach his window.

He woke with a start and an intimidating rev of his engine to the touch, but stilled immediately when Raf flinched. He beeped a hushed apology and idled, opening a door in offering. Raf crawled into his backseat with one of the military green blankets Agent Fowler had provided, turning against the seat and curling against himself. He shut the door as gently as he could.

  
“Another nightmare?” Bee chirped, unable to quite control his volume as much as he would have preferred.

Raf just nodded shakily and shrunk into himself further.

Raf’s nightmares were not uncommon. They were something he didn’t like to talk about, and something Bee suspected he hadn’t actually told anyone else in Unit E were becoming a reoccurring problem. Cybertronians didn’t really dream the same way humans did- they got addled processors late at night during defragmentation and memory replays and flashbacks- but it wasn’t quite the same, he suspected, as a human’s nightmares. He found it difficult to comprehend, but it was late, it was dark, and Raf was frightened and uncertain and he needed consoling. That was much easier to understand.

"What about?" He asked.

Raf paused hesitantly, hands kneading the thick fabric he was bundled in, “…Dreamed my parents didn’t get out of Jasper in time. That they di- they got caught in the blast.”

He whirred low, something untranslateable to english exactly but carrying enough “it’s okay” that he felt Raf could appreciate it- “You know they did, though. When it’s safe to contact them again, we will.”

"I know!" Raf said quickly, tightening his grip, before going slack and softening his voice, "I know."

"They’re safest thinking that- they’re safest, not knowing where you are."

"I know!" Raf said, a little loudly, and buried his face in the blanket, "I just- I’m just afraid they won’t- that I won’t- that I won’t get to see them again-"

He was starting to breathe too quickly- something Bee had googled the first time it had happened and had defined as “hyperventilating.” It was largely regarded as a bad thing for humans. He clicked his engine on to a comforting, low rumble.

"I won’t let anything happen to you. We’re family, remember?" He said, and Raf went still, but didn’t say anything, so he continued, "We don’t really have ‘family’ on Cybertronian the same way you do on Earth. I guess the closest thing I have to a _parent_ is the _Allspark_ \- but that’s not really right, either." Raf wasn’t saying anything, but he could tell he was listening intently, "We do have spark-siblings, though. It’s different than your kind of siblings- they’re born together, and they actually, kind of, share a spark. They can understand each other without words, and they’re connected- it’s different, _really_ different, but you’ve always understood me, even though I’m using words that shouldn’t make sense to you, and I- I’m rambling, I guess, but…" He trailed off when he noticed Raf was sitting up.

"You think we’re spark brothers?" He said, thoughtfully.

Bee couldn’t stop the embarrassed whirr he let out, “N- I mean, that _would_ be stupid. We’re not even the same species. I shouldn’t- I shouldn’t have said that.”

Raf looked thoughtful for a moment, before he laid himself back down, and Bee noticed he was no longer trembling, “No. It's not stupid. We are.”

Bee let his engine go quiet when he realized Raf had slipped back out of consciousness. His alien spark-brother. The last few months had been filled with so much fear, and panic and desperation- thinking they’d lost Optimus, thinking Ratchet had given up- the Decepticons, their new home, the new rules, Raf’s nightmares- but there was solace in a spark brother. And maybe that, maybe this, was enough.

He let recharge retake him, thoughtful.


End file.
